Skywatcher: Fireball streaks across the sky_BINARY_1171995

On Wednesday night a meteoroid weighing 100 pounds and traveling 53,000 mph hit the atmosphere over the southeastern United States and exploded, producing sonic booms and a fireball as bright as a full moon. Researchers are now scouring the countrysi

On Wednesday night a meteoroid weighing 100 pounds and traveling 53,000 mph hit the atmosphere over the southeastern United States and exploded, producing sonic booms and a fireball as bright as a full moon. Researchers are now scouring the countryside for fragments.

Spaceweather.com also said that a solar wind stream was expected to hit Earth's magnetic field on Friday and Saturday. Minor geomagnetic storms and aurorae at high latitudes could result. Geomagnetic storm alerts are available from spaceweathertext.com (a text alert service) and spaceweatherphone.com.

September is the month of the autumnal equinox, when days and nights are nearly equal and when the northern hemisphere's fall begins.

This year fall commences on Sept. 22 at 4:44 p.m. The Harvest Moon will shine Sept. 19.

On Saturday, predawn risers in Rhode Island will be able to watch Mars, a crescent moon and the solar system's biggest planet, Jupiter, in the east.

David Huestis, historian for the Skyscrapers amateur astronomy club, which operates the Seagrave Memorial Observatory in Scituate, had this to say about September in his monthly online astronomy column:

"On Sept. 1 you can still spot brilliant Venus less than ten degrees (a fist held at arm's length provides this measurement) above the horizon after sunset. To the left of it you'll see blue Spica, Virgo's brightest star. To Spica's upper left you can pick out the beautiful ringed-world Saturn. While this magnificent planet has been lost to many of the local observatories due to its low position in the sky, if you have a portable telescope you can still find a location with a good unobstructed western view to get some final views for this year during evening hours."

Venus will reach magnitude -4.2 during September. It's one of only three celestial objects capable of casing a shadow, the others being the sun and the moon.

This will be the last chance to view Saturn for several months, because it will have dipped below the western horizon by the end of the month.

But, Huestis said, the gas giant planets Uranus and Neptune are readily viewable through a telescope, where they will appear as "little blue-green marbles."

To see them through a professional telescope, visit these observatories: